Digital Push Sets Up 'Sausage Party' For A Sizzling Box Office Start

As studios shift more of their precious marketing dollars away from traditional marketing methods and towards digital campaigns,social media is taking on ever greater importance – so what clues did online activity give us about the
box office potential of this weekend’s wide releases?

Sausage Party vastly exceeded expectations this weekend, rocketing past predictions around the $20 million mark to score second place at the box office with an incredible $34.2 million start. The animated Seth Rogen comedy leaned heavily on digital promotion to reach its younger target audience, attributing approximately half of its marketing budget to online promotion.

The marketing’s irreverent nature struck a chord with the target audience, carrying the tongue-in-cheek tone off the movie by piggybacking off national events such as Independence Day with spoof “Sausage safety” PSAs as well as a Snapchat lens on National Hotdog Day.

All told the risks Sony took on a raunchy animated comedy and a provocative marketing campaign paid off with a performance more than 50% above expectations, delivering a huge hit off a modest budget.

Pete’s Dragon came in a little soft with an opening just over $21 million. Marketing sought family audiences via partnerships with YouTube influencers such as Devin Supertramp as well as with a fire-breathing Snapchat lens. However, despite appealing trailers and fun creative Pete’s Dragon wasn’t able to grab the attention of a wider family audience, generating around 20,000 tweets in release week. Performance was similar to that of The BFG from earlier this year which also struggled to find its feet in a crowded marketplace.

At the other end of the scale Florence Foster Jenkins ran a more traditional campaign seeking older audiences and scored a tidy opening frame. Online the movie worked with more journalistic publications such as The New Yorker, where a custom cartoon program highlighting the rich humor and uplifting nature of the movie.